Short Arizona Agreed Suspension Becomes Long Suspension In Oklahoma

A 90-day suspension imposed in Arizona was raised to a suspension of two years and a day as reciprocal discipline by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

There is no question that the attorney misled the defense, his co-counsel, his supervisor in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and the trial court when he failed to reveal multiple conversations with a confidential intermediary appointed for the purpose of aiding defense counsel in uncovering evidence of mitigation. Those representations were not merely oral but extended to the filing of false and misleading affidavits in the trial court and causing his supervisor and co-worker to do the same with the end result being the filing of a motion to disqualify the Attorney General’s office in its entirety from participating in the capital murder prosecution. Finally, [he] did not timely notify the Bar Association the discipline imposed by the Arizona Supreme Court.

The need for a more severe sanction

The respondent is a seasoned prosecutor. Not only does he serve in the Attorney General’s Office in the State of Arizona, Wintory had a long-stint of service under Oklahoma County’s District Attorney, Bob Macy. He teaches seminars on the duties of prosecutors, defense counsel, law enforcement, and judges on issues related to constitutional law.There simply is no excuse for the respondent’s failure to be completely honest in regard to his conversations with the confidential intermediary in the underlying criminal proceeding. His actions in this matter compromised the ability of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to prosecute an alleged murderer.

Justice Taylor was disbar.

Notably, the sanction imposed by the Acting Presiding Disciplinary Judge in Arizona was an agreed disposition premised on the State Bar’s concession that the attorney’s conduct was negligent.

The details are set forth in the disposition linked here.

AZ Central has this report on the Arizona sanction. (Mike Frisch)